Sunday 2 April 2017

Frostgrave with Dave - Part II

WINNER DAVE CONTINUES TO FIGHT THROUGH THE FROZEN CITY
Following the death of my Archer last round and the magic crossbow I'd found in the treasure I decided to whip together a quick Gnoll with a Crossbow to use as a Marksman.

Round 6 - The Workshop
(Wizard, Apprentice, 2 Thugs, 1 Thief, 1 Archer, 2 Infantrymen, 1 Marksman)

Apparently we've turned a corner and all bets are off.  After failing both Reveal Secret rolls I had a bad feeling this game was going to go badly for me.  The first action of the game was to find myself on the receiving end of a Elemental Bolt, which hurt the new member of my team.  I retaliated with the Marksman but he proved to not live up to his name, which set the tone for the rest of the game. The Apprentice had to keep healing the Marksman back up to keep him alive.

On my opposite flank, Jack and I got stuck into each other as always. Unfortunately Jack got the better of me and proper killed off my other Archer. He also took my Wizard out of the game, I nervously rolled to see what the long term effects on my wizard were... gulp, a 3. Nihal ended up with a Smashed Jaw, meaning a -1 to every cast attempt. I will also do my best at a Godfather impersonation when declaring said spell.  A Thug also ended up proper dead...oh dear, I'm running out of Gnolls.

In the middle I had legged my Thief into the chamber and grabbed a treasure.  I should learn my lesson, when lady luck isn't with me, she really is against me. The construct responsible for that treasure came alive and locked my Thief in combat.  After a turn of back and forth the construct was dead, but Jack wasn't finished with me and his Archers took my Thief out of the game.

My brave Thief attempting to grab some tresaure :(
With my Wizard out, my one shot at treasure out, spent the game trying to shoot a Knight with the Marksman, which made the game really drag for me.  I would have been better to get off the table and home to recuperate.  However, my Apprentice did enough casting to grant me another level, so that's Level 10.

I didn't interact at all with George and Alex, who were tearing strips out of each other, but I don't know how it ended up.

Round 7 - Worm Hunt

I missed this one, but I hear it was a very good game with tonnes of worms and therefore tonnes of experience.

Round 8 - Another Worm Hunt
(Wizard, Apprentice, Marksman, Archer, Thug, Thief, 2xInfantryman)


George's warband off to hunt for Worms
Very pleased I got to partake in this mission, there was just four of us tonight, which is awesome as the game flows so much better.  I think Gareth was at the highest level, which meant he got picked on a little bit, not only that but he had a terrible dice game, I'd have been annoyed if it had been me.

Both George and I managed to epically fail to reveal some hidden treasure, no secrets here!

I held back with my Wizard this game, surrounding a treasure token in the hope that a Worm would turn up.  Annoyingly only a single Worm rocked up the entire game, which despite having a bad game Gareth got to deal with - if nothing else he got the only Worm kill.

We played with random encounters this game, which meant I had to face down an Ice Toad, cue the Marksman and Archer combo, bit annoying that there is no experience from it.

Matt made really good use of the Wizard Eye, keeping his Wizard out of line-of-sight of Gareth's warband but casting all sorts of spells at them.

My (G)Imps were on fire and were the star of the show from my side, but a lack of Telekinesis/Leap meant I only retrieved two treasures.

Treasure 1 = 17 x 25gc = 425gc
Treasure 2 = Grimoire of Elemental Shield and 120gc

With my amassed treasure I bought a grimoire of Miraculous Cure, but managed to fail the cast rolls, so I need to spend at least one more game with a bust up jaw.

I managed two levels, 100 from the treasures and 110 from successful spell casts.  I used one level to learn Miraculous Cure and I'm tempted to learn Leap, but I haven't committed yet.

Round 9 & 10
Missed both of these, due to Infinity commitments and an aggressive dog.

Round 11 - The Keep
Once again I found myself facing off against Jack and he hammered me early on in the game. I was desperate to get some treasure and was putting things in harm's way to grab it.  This didn't pay off and I should have been a lot more thoughtful.  Beauty was a really helpful spell this game, keeping my Wizard alive even though he got teleported right in front of Matt D's entire warband.  Nihal even saw a bit of combat, with his dual wielding weapons, magic sword and Combat Awareness, his +7 fight was pretty cool.

After two turns I was haemorrhaging soldiers, an Archer and a Thief were both proper dead, a Thug was badly wounded and I lost my Apprentice (Close Call) somewhere along the lines too.

This had two consequences, one my Marksman got his game on and started sniping the hell out of Jack's warband and even killed his Apprentice in the face - proper dead! Two, the other players started to feel sorry for me and actually took the fight to Jack. I could see out of the corner of my eye that George was making the most of the distraction and securing four treasures for himself.

After the game, I finally managed to score a high roll on Miraculous Cure, so my broken jaw is now healed.  Plus with the treasure I managed to get and a couple of levels to spend, I decided it was high time I learned something fun.  Elemental Bolt it is!  I hope next game I can get my Wizard some half decent experience and even enough treasure to replace my Apprentice's Fatestone.

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                                        STOP PRESS! - DAVE STOPS BEING SO NEGATIVE
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Round 12 - The Complex Temple
I think a few things have finally clicked...well I always was a late starter.  I've been so jealous of other people's Telekinesis/Leap/Bone Darts/Grenades that I haven't been making the most of my own abilities.  Wasting time attempting to cast Fleet Feet on everything and not making the most  of Beauty.  Well NO MORE!

This round there were six of us, which I think should be the max on a board.  I was sandwiched between George and Gareth, with my nemesis Jack out of reach.

A successful roll for Reveal Secret meant I'd be getting at least one treasure this round.  I had my eye on another treasure and one of the magical Columns.  I wanted to ensure my Wizard fought the column for the experience bonus.

I empowered quite a bit to ensure my Wizard was Beautied up to 20 and my Apprentice managed a good roll, which I empowered to make 21.  Now, when facing Grenade throwers I found it best to clump my troops together to ensure the burst radius would catch the Wizard/Apprentice and force a willpower roll.

Things went to plan and before long my Gnolls were loping off the table with three treasures.  I could do an Ethan at this point and flee the board entirely... or go Gareth hunting.

I chose the latter and before you know it Nihal was back in hand-to-hand combat, killing a Thief (nothing permanent).  An Infantryman dispatched Gareth's Apprentice, then a Warhound.  Mr Marksman nailed a Knight and something else (a Tracker perhaps).  Wall-to-wall bloodshed and I walked away unscathed.

The Apprentice even managed a very cheeky Elemental Bolt (empowered for six).

Meanwhile George the cheeky little b$%&*@~, grabbed his fourth treasure, killing Jack's warband and ooops, his Wizard took an arrow to the face from a cheeky little Archer courtesy of Matt D. 

Nothing permanent, but I think the whole table held their breath when George made the roll, to determine the campaign effects.

Three levels for me, a magic bow for my Archer, a scroll of Teleportation, a Grimoire of Willpower, about 600gc and for once an intact warband.  Not bad, not bad at all.

I'll improve Elemental Bolt as 16 is far too high, improve Heal (just super useful) and improve Leap (not used yet). With the money I can replace the Apprentice's Fatestone

What a fine and positive way to end this post.

Thanks for reading,

Dave

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